How Models of Diversity is changing the catwalk for the better

This is how fashion should be - a melee of genuinely diverse beauty which issues an invitation for all to join the party.

Paris fashion week caused quite the stir in the mainstream press, after designers featured models who were a US 'size 000'. Which, I'll be honest, I didn't even realise was a thing.

It transpires that a size 000 represents a 23 inch waist measurement, which isn't quite as 'quel horror!' as the deliberately inflammatory labelling of it would have you believe. Yes, a 23 inch waist is teeny-tiny and unusually petite by today's standards, but it's not outside the realms of possibility- particularly if you are short. So, the cries of 'stop the skinny madness!' from the tabloids were a little troubling to me.

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The issue, as far as I'm concerned, is that most of the models used during Fashion Week were visibly malnourished. It is perfectly possible to be thin and healthy but the vast majority of the bodies we saw on the catwalks were not a representation of that. That's not the same as saying 'everyone with a 23 inch waist should be banned from the collective public consciousness'.

Barbara, owner of the biggest boobs in Christendom (and an even bigger Afro

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In an industry which remains stringent regarding what it does and doesn't find acceptable in regards to body image, (I refer you to the Kendall Jenner cellulite debacle) Models of Diversity have achieved the seemingly impossible. Their models, who encompass a broad spectrum of shapes, sizes, races, colours, ages and abilities are, without doubt, aspirationally beautiful. Yet they're also attainably beautiful. They tread the precarious line which exists in the unchartered territory between breath-taking and relatable.

This is how fashion should be - a melee of genuinely diverse beauty which issues an invitation for all to join the party.

I shared the catwalk with a (brilliantly witty) transsexual called Nicole

The best part is that Models of Diversity invited all 33 years and size 16 of me to open their catwalk show for 'Wear it for Autism' (a charity event organised by the brilliant Anna Kennedy MBE) last week. I haven't strutted along a runway for fifteen years but, as a mental health activist and body confidence campaigner, this event seemed to encompass everything I'm passionate about and I couldn't think of a better reason to dust off my killer heels.

'Ridiculously Hot Jack' (as he shall henceforth be known) who has a metal leg

Backstage, I saw naturally slender models, skin glowing and not a sunken eye in sight, chowing down on chocolate brownies. I shared the catwalk with a (brilliantly witty) transsexual called Nicole, 'ridiculously hot Jack' (as he shall henceforth be known) who has a metal leg, Sam who is a 41 year old Mum of three and Barbara, owner of the biggest boobs in Christendom (and an even bigger Afro).

As I showcased a dress by talented new designer Jennifer Klein in front of an audience who included Mitch Winehouse, Amy Willerton and Arlene Phillips, I couldn't have been more proud.

Rather than focussing on what we DON'T want to see in fashion, let's start talking about what we DO. For me it is, quite simply, diversity. After all, life would be incredibly boring if we all looked the same?

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